Tinie Tempah: 'I don’t want people to go out and buy my clothes just because I'm associated with it'

Rapper Tinie Tempah talks exclusively to the Telegraph about Disturbing London, his new clothing range.

BY Phong Luu |
18 April 2012

Tinie Tempah in Selfridges

Tinie Tempah: bit of a dapper Dan, isn't it? He's got
GQ
's Best Dressed Man of 2012 to prove it, although he took home silver in the only award that matters (ahem), the
Telegraph
's Most Stylish Man of 2011. "Did I lose to Gary Barlow?! Oh, well, maybe next year", he laughs. But he did beat David Beckham: "That's always good!"

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The
Telegraph
's second best-dressed man is holed-up in a plush room in Personal Shopping at Selfridges today to talk about his new menswear range, Disturbing London, which launched at the store two weeks ago. He's famous for his slick way with a tux - he looks to McQueen, Rake and Paul Smith for tailoring - but his label is more casual and streetwear in feel.

"At the end of the day, I'm a 23-year-old male from inner city London. Of course I'm into tailoring - but in the right circumstances: swanky events, awards or fashion shows. I want [the collection] to show the different layers of what makes me who I am. I thought it would be good to do something that was high-end streetwear, based around the whole Americana storm that is happening now. D'ya get what I mean?"

He collaborated with streetwear label MH1 on the range: "I'm going to carry on collaborating until I get to the point where I feel it's safe and cool and credible enough to go for the full heritage: a high-end collection, tailoring - everything. You have to think big and start off small, get people to fall in love with the brand."

Bottom line: he isn't about to go guns blazing into womenswear and catwalk shows, Kanye West-style. "I don't want people to just go out and buy this stuff because Tinie Tempah is associated with it. I want people to fall in love with it and go and seek it off their own accord. D'ya get what I mean?"

The methodical approach masks just how ambitious he is, though: the label was conceived as part of the record company, also called Disturbing London, which he founded with his cousin and manager, Dumi, in 2007 when he was an unsigned artist. He started getting into fashion then.

"I had to start doing stage shows, so I thought, not in a condescending way, but I can't be wearing what a bloke in the crowd is wearing because what's going to make me stand out?" The answer (of sorts): glasses, which have now become his trademark - he's wearing a geek-chic pair by Cutler & Gross today - although they are purely for aesthetics, as he doesn't actually need them.

"I went to Brick Lane one day, years ago, and I saw a cheap £5 pair and I bought them. Lots of people started stopping me and saying: 'They look really good on you, they really complement you.' After that, I got into a Ray Ban pair and now Cutler." Is there pressure to look really good at all times? "To be honest, I think after the whole best-dressed male thing, the pressure was off, because they clearly like me for what I do naturally."

As befits his stylish-man-around-town tag, he has been roped in by Dylan Jones,
GQ
editor and chair of BFC Menswear, as an ambassador for the soon-to-debut London Menswear Week in June. "I think he is just pimping me out as a face! I think he's just using me," he jokes. "He's a really good guy, and he's become a great friend over the past year. I think it's great to be on board. Out of everyone on the committee, I think I'm probably the most different, in a way. Like, you know, the young edge of it. I think it's nice to have all those different dimensions on the council. Hopefully, it's going to appeal to a different demographic somewhere in England. D'ya get what I mean?" Sure do, Tinie, sure do.

Disturbing London in stores and online now at Selfridges; selfridges.com